Çigdemim neighbourhood association in Turkey: What the Big Society can achieve without any government funding

Performance indicators

The neighbourhood association has developed a sound and easy to use performance management system to monitor satisfaction with and effectiveness of social events and training courses. So whenever a resident takes part in any event of the association, he/she will be asked to fill out a feed-back form. The results are analysed by the member responsible and reviewed by the board, with a view to making improvements to the services provided.

In general, satisfaction levels are very high – typically, 90% of participants of training or cultural events indicate they are highly satisfied with the organisation and delivery of the event. Moreover, in terms of outreach the Çigdem Neighbourhood Association exceeded its target of 320 local citizens participating in cultural events outside Ankara in 2010 (achieving 440 participants).

Targets are also defined for the association’s environmental activities. For example, the association wanted to collect 250 kilos of used vegetable oil in the neighbourhood – the actual amount collected was 200 kilo in 2010. The association collected 1958 kilos of used electronic goods in 2010 (compared to its target of 5000 kilos). Clearly, while the amount of recycling is rising, the neighbourhood association believes that it must do even more to improve awareness raising and give incentives to local people to deliver recycling materials to the containers at its office.

One area where the association has exceeded its targets was new membership – the target of 400 was exceeded by 20 in 2010. The board members are positive that with more members they will be able to achieve even more in the coming years.

Asuman Selcuk provided Governance International with this case study on 10 December 2010.